Pin-retainer.



c. FFMURRAY & w. s. ATWO0D..

PIN RETAINER.

APPI IUATION FILED AUG. 16, 1909.

Patented Nov. 28, 1911.

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11 'i vI UNITED STATS: PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES E. MURRAY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, AND WILLIAMS. ATWOOD, OF MONTREAL,

QUEBEC, CANADA.

PIN-RETAINER.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented N 28, 1911,

Application filed August 16, 1909. Serial No. 512,969.

' is the provision of a simple means which can be manufactured economically, and which will be adapted for attachment to a railway car coupler so as to cooperate with the pivot-pin of the knuckle to support parts of the same provided it becomes accidentally broken, also to act as an indicator to give notice that the pin has been damaged, and in the case of passenger couplers, it may be used as a direct and positive support for the un-headed pivot-pin of the coupler, such pins in couplers of the passenger type having no top heads and requiring some means for maintaining them in operative position in the coupler.

Several embodiments of this invention we have illustrated on the accompanying sheet of drawings, which should be considered as a part of this specification, and to which reference should be made in connection with the following detailed description for a full and complete understanding of our invention.

In this drawing,Figure 1 is a side elevation of a car-coupler equipped with one style or form of our retaining device; Fig. 2 is a perspective View of the retainer alone; Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 1, certain parts being broken away to more clearly illustrate the construction, and .shows a slightly modified form of the device; and Fig. 4 is a fragmentary elevation somewhat like the construction of Fig. 1, indicating the employment of the retainer in connection with the knuckle pivot-pin of a passenger-car coupler.

In Fig. 1, we have shown a coupler 10 of the usual type supplied with a turning knuckle 11 pivoted on the coupler between the pairs of arms 12 and 13 on a pivot-pin 14 supplied at its top end with an enlarged head 15 and equipped below the arm 12 with a transverse cotter-pin 16 which acts to prevent the working up of the pinout of proper place. Cast on the bottom-of this coupleris a round lug 17 having a reduced neck 18, encircling which is a 100 19 of a wire or similar retainer, which is a so supplied with another loop 20 adapted to encircle the lower end of the pivot-pin. This bent wire or rod retainer also has a downwardly-extended portion 21, the end of which is turned laterally at 22 below the pin loop 20. The loop 19 of the retainer is rotatably and permanently secured to the reduced neck 18 of the lug 17, permitting the retainer, as will be readily understood, to be swung or rotated in a substantially horizontal plane. In order to apply such retaining device to the pivot-pin, the latter, after the cotter 16 has been removed, is raised sufficiently so that the retainer may be swung into register with the lower end of the pin, and when the latter has descended and the pin 16 is replaced, the loop 20 will encircle the lower end of the pin, as is clearly illustrated, while the projection 22 will be adapted to act as a support for the lower end of the pin if the same becomes accidentally broken, and also as an indicator undersuch circumstances to show that the pin has been broken. It will be understood that normally the pin is retained above the arm 22 but if the pin becomes broken it will rest on such projection as is shown in Fig. 4.

If desired, the parts may be constructed and related so that the cotter-pin 16 alone will, by cooperation with the loop 20, act to support the lower broken end of such a pin, the projection 22 merely operating as an indicator.

By reference to Fig. 4, in which the same appliance is shown, it will be noticed that in the case of a passenger-car coupler, the pin normally rests on the support 22, being prevented from riding or working upwardly by the transverse cotter 23. In case it is desired to remove the broken parts of the pin, the same may be pushed up into the coupler sufliciently so as to free the retainer, which may be then swung on the stud 17 out of the way, and subsequently swung back into place into operative relation and association with a new pin.

The construction indicated in Fig. 3 is substantially like that of Figs. 1, 2 and 4, with the exception that instead of having the knob or stud 17 cast on the coupler, the loop portion 19 of the retainer in such case is flattened to form an eye 24:, which is held to the under surface of the coupler by a machine-screw 25, on which it may be rotated in the same manner and for the same purpose that the loop 19 is rotatable on the stud 17 Although we have herein indicated several particular embodiments of this invention, it should be noted that the invention is not limited or restricted to the exact constructions set forth, because many minor I mechanical changes may be incorporated in the same without departure from the essence of the invention and without the sacrifice of any substantial benefits or advantages.

We claim: A device of the class described compris- Gopies of this patent may be obtained for ing, in combination, a knuckle head, a knuckle pivoted therein, a knuckle pivot pin and a one-piece pin retainer mounted for rotation on an integral projection on the coupler head, said pin retainer having a portion encircling the pivot pin and a portion extending beneath the lower end of said pin, substantially as described.

CHARLES F. MURRAY. WILLIAM S. ATWOOD.

Witnesses to Murrays signature:

HENRY HANNAN, SAMUEL M. DARLING. Witnesses to Atwoods signature: 0. W. TAYLOR, E. R. MCKENZIE.

five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

